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Roots & Shoots Blog

NEW ROBOTIC SYSTEM TO ADVANCE RESEARCH

Tuesday, 05 December 2017

Soon after Malia Gehan, Ph.D. joined the Danforth Center as a principal investigator in 2016, she initiated a unique research program that designs, engineers and develops tools to accelerate the pace of discovery to enhance crop productivity.

Gehan’s research focuses on how to improve plant response to temperature stress in important crops. She recognized that having to use new sets of plants for each stress tolerance test significantly slows the pace of discovery. She decided to call on experts at LemnaTec, the company that helped design the unique Bellwether Plant Phenotyping Facility at the Center, to help her develop technology that would enable non-destructive plant analysis. The result of their collaboration is the Hyperspectral Development Platform, an industrial-scale robotic arm system

​“THIS IS A TOOL THAT HAS THE CAPACITY TO BUILD OTHER TOOLS.”

- MALIA GEHAN, PH.D.,
Assistant Member

with an impressive wingspan of seven feet, which is fitted with advanced imaging technology, similar to systems used in automobile manufacturing. The platform collects high-resolution data with a specialized camera that captures images at precise wavelengths. It also has the capacity to collect 3D information to both direct movements of the arm and gather valuable information about plant size and architecture.

“The Hyperspectral Development Platform has the potential to distinguish early plant responses to stressors like viruses, pathogens, nutrient deficit, drought and temperature stress. These signatures of stress could then be used to develop screens at a lower cost,” said Gehan.

STRESS TOLERANT CROPS
Because the new technology installation is able to measure many types of plants, including the model system Arabidopsis, and food security crop Cassava, it will advance research in laboratories throughout the Center. Gehan is particularly interested in learning more about the protein-rich crop quinoa, which provides a complete amino acid profile and is also tolerant to many stresses like drought and cold. The more she can discover about quinoa’s phenotype through non-destructive imaging, the greater the potential for understanding how other important crops interact with their environment.

FACTS ABOUT QUINOA (KEEN-WAH)

• The orphan crop is native to Peru and related to beets, chard and spinach

• It is referred to as a “superfood” or “mother of all grain” in the Incan language

• The grain is packed with protein, fiber and various vitamins and minerals